The man. The myth. The Best of Fest (of the just past 2009 Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival). The Guest Editor, Moshe Kasher. Himself. In the text.

Action Items:
- Buy his new (Rooftop Comedy produced) album, “Everyone You Know is Going to Die…And Then You Are” on iTunes.

- Those in the San Francisco-esque area attend Moshe’s CD release party for the aforementioned album at the SF Punch Line on July 7th.

With that said, here are his picks.
Blackass
It’s like he says, everybody needs a blackass sometimes.

Jeanne Donaldson
Jeanne talks about what a lot of us…let’s face it, ALL of us, go through. The constant habitual harassment faced by the butt virgins of the world from the buttfucker community. Bill Hicks shot and missed when he tried to approach Jeanne’s level of comedic honesty and social commentary. Move over Hicks, there’s a new legend in town.

Chris Schiappacasse - You’re a whore
Sometimes, music breaks through barriers and allows the “inner cynic” to let down its guard and just laugh. That’s what “you’re a whore” is to me. And let’s face it, you ARE a whore.

Kerosene
Kerosene used to take me with him on the road to the various Improvisations and Playboy clubs around the country just like Shecky Berman used to do for him. If anyone has influenced my style directly, it’s Kerosene. Watch a master at work and try to learn something.

Moshe Kasher - A new haircut
Frankly, this guy just sucks.

Posted: July 1st, 2009 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
Comments: 1

Guest interview by Jason Tanamor of Zoiks! Online.

And yet another tip from your Uncle Lar.
By Jason Tanamor

“You know what makes good crowds? Funny Comedians. That’s a tip from your uncle Lar.”

Another tip from Uncle Lar is this. “Everyone should drink. Alcohol is taxed and the money goes to schools,” Reeb said. “So drink up. You’re not a drunk, you’re an education provider.”

Larry Reeb, better known across stages as Uncle Lar, dishes out tips and one-liners to audiences throughout the United States. “I was working at an amusement park in the day, while I did stand-up at night,” Reeb said. “Everyone working there was like 15, so they started calling me Uncle Lar. On stage, after a joke I threw in, ‘That’s a tip from your Uncle Lar,’ and it stuck.”

Having said this, Larry Reeb does have jokes with his advice. In fact, he mixes up each show with new material. “I just do my thing but if it’s an older crowd I will clean it up a little bit,” Reeb said. And if he doesn’t think the material is working, he has a unique way of parting with the less than spectacular jokes. “I try a new joke 4 or 5 times. I try wording it in different ways then if it still doesn’t work, I sell it to a new comedian.”

He’s kidding of course. Unless there are some takers.

Read the rest of the interview, after the jump!

Posted: June 30th, 2009 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
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Yesterday was a sad day for a lot of complicated reasons. Music fans everywhere are lamenting the loss of Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, one of many people’s childhood icons and one of the greatest performers of all time. Meanwhile, hacky comedians everywhere are mourning the death of Michael Jackson, alleged super creep turned punchline. Let’s not forget, though, that before he became the go-to reference for lazy humorists everywhere, he was just an unbelievably talented kid singing about how he had no idea what he’d grow up to be…

Posted: June 26th, 2009 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
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According to Page Six, everyone’s favorite Ghostbuster/melancholy comedic actor, Bill Murray, has been spotted multiple times in the past year partying with 20-something Brooklyn hipsters. His MO, apparently, is showing up unannounced, engaging in random conversations, and then leaving a room full of partygoers bewildered. Well, I guess if I were Bill Murray, I’d do it too.

Thanks to Chris Garcia for the tip!

Posted: June 24th, 2009 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
Comments: 1

In all of the Aspen hullabaloo, we neglected to comment on the unfortunate death of one of our favorite comedians, Michael Roof. He passed away on June 9 at the age of 32. Most people knew him for his roles in Black Hawk Down or the xXx movies, but here at Rooftop we knew him for his outrageous and hilarious bits that we couldn’t wait to put online.

There was always a small office celebration whenever we found out he would be coming through one of our partner clubs and you could often hear him quoted around here, though I’m sure we never did him any justice. This is my favorite clip of his, and I think it adequately demonstrates his amazing commitment and energy. Rest in peace, Chicken.

Posted: June 23rd, 2009 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
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Part two of the Siskel & Negro ‘Live in Aspen!’ podcasts comes to you from Zane’s pub during this year’s Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival.

This episode is huge!  Robert Hawkins and Laurie Kilmartin stop by to discuss farting and tons of other interesting stuff.  Also, former Bay Area comic Hasan Minhaj (@hasanminhaj) joins the show to talk about comedy as an artform, hip hop, and lots of other stuff.  You don’t want to miss this one!

Subscribe to the show on iTunes and keep an eye out for one more AMAZING episode later this week, featuring Lisa Landry and ‘Best of the Fest’ winner Moshe Kasher.  Also, Ty Barnett stops by for one of the best ‘Denzel News’ segments of all time!

Posted: June 17th, 2009 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
Comments: 1

The Siskel & Negro show comes to you LIVE from Zane’s pub during this year’s Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival.  Over the three days of the festival, Siskel & Negro recorded three of the most epic podcasts ever recorded, including a slew of top shelf guests.

The first of three episodes bring you special guests Kyle Grooms, Ted Alexandro, NCCC finalists Zahra Noorbakhsh, Dave Thomason, and the Chicago Improv Mafia.  Also: Kate reviews a movie we’ve all seen a long, long time ago.

Also: subscribe to the show on iTunes and keep an eye out for the other two AMAZING episodes out later this week.

Posted: June 15th, 2009 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
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Last week, I showed off Ryan Singer’s (possibly premature) acceptance video for the Comic’s Comic award. It turns out, I was the premature one. Ryan has recut the video, to be harder, better, faster, stronger. Along with added subtitles. So if you saw it already, watch it again. For the first time.

Posted: June 8th, 2009 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
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It’s Siskel and Negro’s last episode before they hit the 2009 Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival. That’s right folks, keep an eye out for two episodes next week that will be recorded live and on location at this year’s festival!  The Aspen episodes will include special guests, Aspen updates, and lots of other fun stuff!

In this episode, it’s time for their official Summer Movie Wrap-up, including X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Star Trek, and Terminator Salvation. Also up for discussion: co-podcaster Katherine P. McMurphy is wearing an ugly shirt and Kamau finally gets some recognition… sort of.

You can also download and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes by clicking HERE

Posted: June 4th, 2009 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
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Guest Post from Keith Alberstadt.

This season of “Saturday Night Live” ended a couple of weeks ago. Back in August, after a written submission tryout, I was asked to be a freelance writer for Weekend Update. Given that it was an election year and that I was turned down in ‘07, I was thrilled beyond words. I even called my old English professor and told him to suck it.

It was a blast to do–the SNL thing, not telling off the professor, although that was fun too even if it was the wrong number and I made an old woman cry.

Here’s how it worked…Every week there was a show, I would turn in ten jokes (that was the limit) based on current events. But (sigh) they used not a single one of mine the whole year. The whole damn year! It was so demoralizing, I honestly felt a bit nervous and ashamed when asking Lorne Michaels for an invitation to the end of the year after-party.

I hear 100% rejection is actually par for the course for freelancers, so I’m not too bummed about it. Furthermore, I heard from a comic who works at SNL that a few of my gems actually made the first couple of cuts to reach the “Alt List” a few times before finally being shown to the trash. So I almost reached my goal. That makes me feel like the LeBron James of comedy writing. If I keep that up, someday people might say that I write jokes better than Michael Jordan.

There are seriously no hard feelings toward SNL. I will of course try out again this summer. In the meantime, I have to apologize to Old Woman Erma in Nashville.

Posted: June 4th, 2009 under Ruminations, theorizations and stuff.
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